Day 1: Mt Hotham to Lakes Entrance
Hello everyone
I’ve added a short video summary of each leg of the tour to get your day started (If the link doesn’t work copy paste this into your browser).
Dazza’s Diary – Day 0 www.facebook.com/daren.armstrong.7/videos/754704794686717/
Dazza’s Diary – Day 1 www.facebook.com/daren.armstrong.7/videos/755369164620280/
We woke up to a marvellous, albeit freezing day on Mt Hotham. I put on as many layers as I had – 4 in total – and ventured outside a little tentatively. Blue sky but wet roads. Beautiful to look at, but could be better riding conditions. No complaints though as it could easily have been terrible, unrideable even. Berett’s commenced his live Channel 7 Sunrise crosses as we mingled around (i.e. his background props) and chatted to the locals.
This was our longest (but not hardest) day of riding with over 180km to get through. The descent was quite treacherous given the wet roads and as we got down to cloud level it was like riding through pea soup with almost zero visibility until we popped out underneath. All good though as everyone got down the mountain in one piece.
We got to Lakes Entrance but not without an incident in my peleton. Winding our way along the road following the river towards the coast the 2 riders in front of me came down. A momentary lapse of concentration and it was too late to remedy. They hit the deck pretty hard (fortunately no major injuries were sustained in the fall) and I just managed to take evasive action to avoid being the next one to pile on. We do everything we can to ensure safety in our groups whilst riding but there is always a risk. This is a risk we accept whilst out riding to raise the necessary money we need to kick cancer to the curb.
At dinner we all ate like we’ve not been fed for a week then the jersey presentations commenced. Similar to the Tour de France we award jerseys each day to those who exhibit the characteristics and traits that are important to TdC. They include; Focus, Awareness, Attitude, Guts, Doer, and the most coveted is the pink jersey for Inspiration. I was very honoured to receive the Inspiration jersey on Day 1.
Tomorrow we look forward to a shorter day on the bike as we make our way down to Sale.
As always I provide critical stats throughout the journey for those who crave hard data.
Donation tally update:
About $85 shy of $30,000. Thank you to everyone – this is unbelievable!
Stats update:
Distance ridden: 183km
Elevation climbed: 1,535m
Time ridden: 6 hrs 20 min
Top speed: 78 km/hr
Calories burned: 3,405
Punctures: 0
Willymaykit seems to have missed the bus to Hotham so you’ll not have any gripping commentary from our roving reporter today, or maybe for the rest of the tour!
Until tomorrow, enjoy.
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